A. Regular working hours for employees are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, with one unpaid hour for lunch/meal break. This schedule provides for 7.5
duty hours per day; 37.5 hours per week; 1,950 hours per year.

B. The official work day is 7.5 hours; therefore, all attendance records, time sheets,
leave records, payroll documents and other recordkeeping instruments shall be kept
only in hours and tenths of hours reflecting the actual hours worked each day and
week. In most cases, these should indicate 7.5 hours per day and 37.5 hours per week.
Other documents, such as employee recruiting materials, orientation sessions, and
comparative salary studies, should reflect this workweek. The following schedule of
tenths of hours shall be followed in the documenting of time worked per day:

C. All hours worked above 37.5 per week must be approved in advance by the appropriate
approving authority.

D. Employees shall perform approved additional hours of work when such work is scheduled
in advance. Failure to appear for scheduled work will be treated in the disciplinary
process as any other unapproved absence. Additionally, employees may be asked to extend
their work days in order to respond to weather related problems or unforeseen problems
arising near the end of the work period.

II. SPECIAL SCHEDULES

Some departments are required to maintain weekend and evening hours. Those areas maintaining
regular schedules differing from 8:00 to 4:30 should provide Human Resource Services
a written schedule of office hours to be maintained.

III. SCHEDULE FOR AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYEES

Whenever possible, agricultural employees will conform to the 37.5 hour workweek.
When deemed necessary by supervisory personnel, they will work varying hours and schedules.

IV. TEMPORARY CHANGES IN SCHEDULE

Temporary changes in work schedule can be made at the discretion of the department
head. Deviations from the normal schedule can include a temporary change in schedule
to accommodate class attendance in conjunction with any of the MTSU educational benefits
plans when such deviation is requested of and recommended by the employee's department
head and submitted in compliance with MTSU Policy I:01:16 Faculty and Staff Support for Educational Expenses. Approval of all changes should be based on adequate office staffing during regular
hours and appropriate supervision during alternative hours.

V. LUNCH PERIODS

A one-hour lunch period will be provided in the above schedules at a time established
by department and activity heads.

VI. REST PERIODS

Employees may be given a rest period of fifteen minutes each half day, work load permitting,
as scheduled by department heads or supervisors. Employees may not accumulate unused
rest periods or add the rest period to their one hour lunch period.

VII. TIME CALCULATIONS

A. For timekeeping purposes, the workweek begins on Saturday and ends on Friday for
most employees. However, a Monday through Sunday work week is used by some departments.

B. Time taken as annual leave or sick leave does not count as hours worked for overtime
computation purposes. Official University holidays will be counted as hours worked
for overtime computation purposes.

C. Overtime

1. All overtime must be approved in advance by the appropriate approving authority.

2. Regular overtime will be paid at straight time for hours worked in excess of 37.5
hours. Premium overtime will be paid at one-half times the straight time rate for
hours worked in excess of 40.0 per week.

1. All hours worked on an official University holiday must be approved in advance
by the appropriate approving authority.

2. Employees who are required to work on official University holidays will receive
their regular holiday pay for the day plus they will be compensated at a time and
one-half basis (premium pay) for the hours worked on the holiday by one of two methods
as follows:

a. Employee will receive time and one-half pay for hours worked plus receive holiday
pay.

OR

b. Employee will receive time and one-half pay for hours worked and request their
holiday hours be added to their annual leave balance.

3. For hours worked on a holiday, premium pay will be given regardless of the total
number of hours worked in the week.

4. Employees who are required to work in a department that operates 24 hours a day
will follow the same holiday pay procedure outlined above. However, if the employee's
regular day(s) off fall on an official University holiday, 7.5 hours of annual leave
will be added to their annual leave balance for each applicable day.

VIII. EMERGENCY CALL BACK TIME

A. A minimum of two hours of premium rate overtime will be made to employees who are
called back to work for emergency reasons (equipment failures, etc.) at times other
than their regular work hours. Such emergency callback should not be confused with
work scheduled in advance for normal non-duty hours or days. Emergency call back pay
is not available to agricultural employees.

B. Employees in essential services, as determined by the supervisor, during an inclement
weather closing will report all hours worked as Emergency Call Back time.

C. Due to the responsibilities of the department (i.e. physical plant, telecommunications,
etc.), supervisors may require employees to provide telephone contact numbers for
use in case of emergency or other scheduling problems.

IX. ON-CALL TIME

A. Employees may be scheduled for on-call time so that personnel will be available
to provide repairs and/or services during normal off-duty hours. An employee on call
may come and go freely, but must leave a telephone number where he/she can be reached
or carry a pager furnished by the University. When reached, the employee is expected
to report for work. Employees are paid only for time worked when scheduled to be on-call.
If called in, the employee will be compensated as outlined in Section VIII above.

B. Item IX. A. above does not preclude calling in additional employees who are not
on call.

X. WORK TIME DEFINED

Work time or "hours worked" is all the time an employee is suffered or permitted to
work. It is of no consequence where such work takes place, i.e. in the customary workplace,
at home, or anywhere else.

Work time includes most activities related to preparing for and "clean-up" after performance
of the employees' principal duties. Examples of work time include setting up equipment,
sharpening or cleaning tools, waiting for instructions, moving about the campus to
perform assigned duties, attending departmental meetings, receiving emergency medical
treatment for an on-the-job accident, and other similar work related activities.

XI. CONTROLLING WORK TIME

A. Department Head

Each Department Head is responsible for exercising adequate supervision to insure
that employees are complying with established work schedules. The mere establishment
or communication of work schedules does not relieve the Department Head of his/her
responsibility for controlling work time. He/she must ascertain and insure that all
schedules are followed by the employee.

The Department Head is responsible for controlling starting and stopping times and
all work time, whether within or outside the usual work schedule.

B. Employee

It is the employee's duty to comply with departmental work schedules and to avoid
performing work that is "unscheduled" or "non-directed", outside of such schedules.

XII. RECORDING WORK TIME

A. Work time must be recorded exactly the way it is worked, as to date and amount.
"Doctoring" or otherwise falsifying time records clearly violates the Fair Labor Standards
Act and University policy.

B. Some examples of practices which are prohibited include, but are not limited to,
the following:

1. Recording only time worked on the premises while permitting the employee to take
work home for which no work time is recorded.

2. Permitting employees to work while presumably taking a meal period and not recording
such time as hours worked.

3. Permitting employees to arrive "early" and perform work or leave "late" and perform
work without recording it.

4. Permitting an employee to leave early on a day in one workweek and permitting the
employee to report early, stay late, or work during meal periods, as "make up" in
another workweek, without recording the "short" work time or the overtime work.

5. Permitting employees to record only as much work time as the departmental budget
will permit, without respect to the actual time worked.

Revisions: July 1, 1991; June 18, 1999; August 16, 2010; March 29, 2013.

Middle Tennessee State University, in its educational programs and activities involving students and employees, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, age (as applicable), status as a covered veteran or genetic information. For more information see Middle Tennessee State University. | Nondiscrimination Policy